Sergio Perez summoned to the stewards for calling them ‘a joke’ on team radio At Abu Dhabi GP

Mexican driver Sergio Perez was frustrated due to the a 5-second penalty in the collision with Lando Norris.

Sergio Perez summoned to the stewards for calling them ‘a joke’ on team radio At Abu Dhabi GP

Sergio Perez (via IMAGO)

In the ultimate race of the Abu Dhabi GP, Max Verstappen claimed the victory followed by Charles Leclerc and George Russell. However, race officials penalized Sergio Perez with an unwarranted five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Lando Norris during the race.

Sergio Perez and Lando Norris suffered a minor racing incident at turn six where Perez took the apex a bit late and collided with the McLaren of Lando Norris. This crash further pushed the Briton off the track and sabotaged the racing pace of Perez as well. However, the collision seemed like a racing incident and not an intentional crash from Perez to gain an advantage.

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The P4 finish from Sergio Perez despite finishing second in the race obviously agitated the Mexican driver. Hence, during the in-lap after the race, Perez opened up and denigrated the stewards for the time penalty. Perez called the stewards a joke multiple times and responded to his race engineer in an irritated tone after the race.

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The stewards are a joke, man, I cannot believe it. They have been very bad this year but this is a joke. That was really a joke.
Perez told his race engineer (H&T: racefans.net).

Subsequently after Checo’s complaints, his race engineer Hugh Bird also resonated with his words and claimed that even he was unaware of what the stewards were looking at while initiating the penalty. Now, the Stewards have summoned Perez for a breach of article 12.2.1.k, which forbids any misconduct towards the office or members of the staff of FIA.

Christian Horner sided with Sergio Perez over the issue

The Red Bull team boss Christian Horner sided with Sergio Perez over the penalty and his response. Horner affirmed Perez that the incident was not an intentional crash but a racing incident and hence he did not deserve the penalty over that. Further, the boss exclaimed how the summon was due to the comments made by Perez during the in-lap.

Christian Horner and Toto Wolff.
Christian Horner and Toto Wolff (via IMAGO)

Additionally, Horner commented that drivers are highly frustrated during an intense race and need to vent out after the race. He recalled the venting from Football players during the match. The British boss further exclaimed that broadcasting everything to the global audience prevented drivers from venting out their frustrations.

The mid-race penalty sabotaged the constructor battle between Ferrari and Mercedes, and furthermore, Perez did not deserve the penalty. In the eyes of the Red Bull crew and multiple fans, the incident between the two drivers was a racing incident and did not account for a major five-second penalty at the Abu Dhabi GP.

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